A whopping 13,050 tonnes of sand illegally dumped at Padipeta village under Tiruchanur police limits was seized by the Tirupati Urban police, accompanied by the revenue and the mining officials on Friday.
Even as the lockdown is in place, some accused identified as Narayana Reddy, Tirumalayya, Suresh and Mallikarjun were found to have made a mockery of it by allegedly resorting to illegal sand mining and transportation. When the issue came to the notice of tSuperintendent of Police (Tirupati Urban) Avula Ramesh Reddy, he verified it from the Village Revenue Officer T. Ramesh Babu and straightaway led a team comprising Deputy Superintendent of Police (Tirupati East division) T. Muralikrishna, Tiruchanur Circle Inspector T. Chiranjeevi Rao, Rural Tahsildar Kiran Kumar and Mines Officer D. Nagabhushana Reddy to the spot, where huge mounds of sand was found stored. The value of the seized stock was estimated to be ₹80 lakh.
Mr. Ramesh Reddy issued a stern warning to the perpetrators that PD Act would be invoked, if need be, on the violators of sand rules and criminal cases would be filed against those transporting sand from the reaches without permission.
